Acupuncture Instrument with Acupoint Detection and Artificial Intelligence

The invention relates to an acupoint detection instrument, specifically an acupuncture instrument with acupoint detection and artificial intelligence.

Various organs and systems of the human body have corresponding acupoints on the hand that serve as key points for acupuncture treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) uses acupuncture to stimulate these acupoints and alleviate various discomforts. However, acupuncture is an invasive treatment that requires precise needle insertion into the correct acupoints, necessitating professional medical expertise. Although devices with functions similar to acupuncture, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,905, have been developed for non-professional users to perform acupoint stimulation and maintenance on their hands, their effectiveness may be compromised if the correct acupoints are not accurately located. Moreover, without professional TCM training, users may be unable to assess the health condition of specific acupoints to determine whether treatment is necessary.

Therefore, the skilled person in the art is eager to address the challenges of accurately locating acupoints and determining their health status.

The main object of the invention is to solve the problem of not being able to accurately locate the correct acupoints and know the status of the acupoints by practicing the techniques and methods.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention provides an acupuncture instrument with acupoint detection and artificial intelligence, including an instrument body and a detection component. The instrument body includes a power supply unit, an operation unit, a processing unit, a signal transmission unit. The power supply unit includes an external power and a current generator receiving a power from the external power supply and converting into a microcurrent. The operation unit is provided for a user to input an operation instruction. The processing unit is coupled to the power supply unit and the operation unit, receiving the power supplied by the external power supply and providing an operation signal based on the operation instruction. The signal transmission unit is coupled to the processing unit, communicatively connected to a personal device and an external module. The detection component is coupled to the current generator of the power supply unit and the processing unit, including a first electrode unit and a second electrode unit. The first electrode unit is disposed on a hand of the user for contact. The second electrode unit is provided for the user to operate to contact any one of a plurality of sites of the hand to form a circuit with the first electrode unit, and obtains a detection value of one of the sites according to operation unit by obtaining the microcurrent supplied by the current generator and transmitted to the circuit, and the detection value is transmitted to the processing unit, and the detection value associated with an impedance of the user's body.

The processing unit transmits the detection value to the personal device and the external module through the signal transmission unit, and a database and an AI model of the external module executes a matching algorithm (MA) on a basic data and the detection value of the user to obtain an analysis result and provide a suggestion, and the external module transmits the analysis result and the suggestion to the personal device.

The technical contents of the present invention are described as follows with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 FIG. 2 FIG. 1 1 91 92 93 91 93 Please refer to,. The invention discloses an acupuncture instrumentwith acupuncture detection and artificial intelligence. The acupuncture instrumentcan be connected to a personal device, an external moduleand a medical institution deviceto form a hand acupoint detection system. The personal devicemay be a handheld device such as a mobile phone or a tablet, and the medical institution devicemay be a server of a medical institution.

1 10 20 10 101 102 103 20 102 10 The acupuncture instrumentincludes an instrument bodyand a detection component. The instrument bodycan be used as an operating host with a casing, a detection connection holeand a power connection hole. In the invention, the detection componentis inserted into the detection connection holeand is connected to the instrument bodyby wire.

10 11 12 13 14 15 11 12 13 14 15 11 13 14 101 15 101 The instrument bodyincludes a processing unit, a power supply unit, an operating unit, a signal transmission unitand a display unit. The processing unitis coupled to the power supply unit, the operating unit, the signal transmission unitand the display unit. The processing unit, the operating unit, and the signal transmission unitare integrated in the casing, and the display unitis exposed from the casingto display information.

12 121 122 121 101 11 14 15 122 122 101 121 103 121 121 The power supply unitincludes an external power supplyand a current generator. The external power supplyis exposed from the casingand is coupled to the processing unit, the signal transmission unit, the display unitand the current generatorto supply power. The current generatoris integrated in the casingto receive and convert the power into a microcurrent that may be output to a user. A strength of the microcurrent is between 10 microamperes (μA) and 1 milliampere (mA). As shown in the figures herein, the external power supplyis illustrated by connecting a power transformer to the power connection hole. When the external power supplyis connected to utility power, the external power supplymay be a battery, a power transformer, or a combination thereof in an actual use.

13 131 132 133 134 135 13 11 11 13 11 91 14 911 91 13 The operation unitincludes a power switch, an enhancement button, a reduction button, a time setting button, and a detection button. The operation unitis provided for the user to input an operation instruction to processing unit, and the processing unitprovides an operation signal according to the operation instruction. In one example as shown in the figures herein, the operation unitgenerates the operation instruction by switching functions and setting through pressing. In other examples, the processing unitmay be connected to the personal devicethrough the signal transmission unit, so that a display interfaceof the personal devicemay be used as the operation unit.

14 91 92 93 91 14 92 14 92 921 922 922 921 The signal transmission unitcan be communicatively connected to the personal device, and communicatively connected to the external moduleand the medical institution devicethrough the personal device. In one example, the signal transmission unitmay be directly communicatively connected to the external module. The signal transmission unitmay be WiFi or Bluetooth. The external moduleis provided with a databaseand an AI model. The AI modelis connected to the database.

70 91 91 70 1 921 92 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 5 FIG. The user may input basic data(shown in) to the personal devicein advance, and the personal devicetransmits the basic datato the acupuncture instrumentand the databaseof the external module. In the invention, the basic datamay include but is not limited to the user's gender, age, height, weight, blood pressure, body fat, exercise frequencyor a combination thereof.

20 21 22 21 22 122 12 11 20 23 23 231 231 102 122 12 11 23 21 22 21 22 221 222 221 122 222 221 22 22 a The detection componentincludes a first electrode unitand a second electrode unit. The first electrode unitand the second electrode unitare coupled to the current generatorof the power supply unitand the processing unit. The detection componentalso includes a connecting wire. One end of the connecting wireis a connector, and the connectoris inserted into a detection connection holeto connect the current generatorof the power supply unitand the processing unit; the other end of the connecting wireconnects the first electrode unitand the second electrode unit. In the invention, the first electrode unitis a conductive patch, the second electrode unitis a probe pen with an electrodemade of conductive magnetic material, and a magnetis provided behind the electrodeto convert the microcurrent output by the current generatorinto a magnetic wave through the magnet, and the magnetic wave is transmitted to the electrodeto be output from a front endof the second electrode unit.

3 FIG.A 3 FIG.B 21 81 82 82 21 22 83 81 21 83 81 a Please refer toand. The first electrode unitis disposed on a handof the user for contact, and is attached to a palm sideof a forearmof the user when in use. Furthermore, the first electrode unitis attached to the left wrist of the user. The second electrode unitis operated by the user to contact any one of a plurality of sitesof the handto form a circuit with the first electrode unit. The sitesmay be a point or a range of the hand.

4 FIG. 5 FIG. 1 21 81 22 83 81 1 As shown inand, when operating the acupuncture instrument, the user attaches the first electrode unitto the handand changes the second electrode unitto contact each of the sitesof the hand(step S).

22 83 22 122 83 2 11 When the second electrode unitcontacts the site, the circuit is formed. The second electrode unitprovides the microcurrent to the circuit from the current generatoraccording to the operation signal to obtain a detection value of one of the sites(step S). The detection value is an electronic signal of the circuit and is obtained by receiving and reading the electrical signal of the circuit through the processing unit. The detection value in the present invention is a voltage, which is calculated based on an impedance of the user's body.

11 15 91 14 3 70 921 92 91 922 70 921 4 70 921 The processing unitdisplays the detection value on the display unit, and transmits the detection value to the personal devicethrough the signal transmission unit(step S), and then transmits the basic dataand the detection value to the databaseof the external modulethrough the personal device. The AI modelexecutes a matching algorithm (MA) on the basic dataand the detection value of the user based on historical data in the databaseto obtain an analysis result, and provides a suggestion based on an analysis result (step S). The analysis result includes a non-acupoint, a normal acupoint and an abnormal acupoint or a combination thereof. The suggestion includes dietary suggestions, activity suggestions, medical advice, etc. The basic dataof the user, the detection value, the analysis result and the suggestion can be stored in the databaseas a part of the historical data that pre-input.

1 921 922 The historical data may include, but is not limited to, analysis results and suggestion obtained by different users using the acupuncture instrument. The historical data of this example is explained by taking a general adult male as an example. “When the detection value is between 300 mV and 500 mV, the analysis result indicates that the acupoint is normal; when the detection value is lower than 300 mV, the acupoint is abnormal and medical treatment is recommended; when the detection value is higher than 500 mV, it is not an acupoint and a new acupoint should be detected.” The historical data may also be a combination of other data. For example, based on the different physical conditions of each user, the historical data stored in the databaseincludes various big data related to gender, age, height, weight, blood pressure, body fat, exercise frequency, detection value, analysis results and suggestion, and the historical data of the database stores multiple threshold data related to multiple different users. The multiple threshold data have an upper threshold limit and a lower threshold limit associated with the detection value, and are compared with the detection value in the AI model. When the detection value is higher than the upper threshold limit of the threshold data being compared, it means that the acupoint is not detected; when the detection value is lower than the lower threshold limit of the threshold data being compared, it means that the acupoint is not smooth; when the detection value is between the upper threshold limit and the lower threshold limit, it means that the acupoint is normal.

91 92 93 92 70 93 70 5 93 91 93 921 6 921 922 4 The personal device, the external moduleand the medical institution deviceare connected for mutual communication. The external moduletransmits the basic dataand the analysis result to the medical institution device. Medical personnel determine the analysis result based on the basic dataand gives a remote medical advice (step S). The medical institution devicethen transmits the remote medical advice to the personal device. The medical institution devicecan also transmit the remote medical advice to the database(step S) as a part of the historical data referenced by the databaseand the AI modelin step Sto execute the matching algorithm. The remote medical advice may be a text file, an audio file, a video file or a combination thereof.

91 4 911 91 15 7 4 7 911 91 15 5 6 7 921 91 15 The personal devicereceives the analysis result, the suggestion, and the remote medical advice obtained in step Sand displays the information related to the analysis result, the suggestion and the remote medical advice through the display interfaceof the personal deviceand the display unitfor the user to read (step S). In one example, if the analysis result obtained in step Sis that the acupoint is normal, step Scan be directly executed to display information related to the analysis result and the suggestion on the display interfaceof the personal deviceand the display unit. If the analysis result is that the acupoint is not smooth, step Sis first executed, and then steps Sand Sare executed to transmit the remote medical advice to the databaseand display the analysis result, the suggestion, and the remote medical advice on the personal deviceand the display unit.

3 FIG.A 3 FIG.B 5 FIG. 1 2 3 921 21 22 831 832 833 831 832 833 83 1 2 3 921 922 923 1 831 832 833 831 832 833 831 832 833 921 922 923 71 72 73 74 70 a a a a a a a a a a a a As shown in,andof the invention, the matching algorithm is based on comparing a plurality of sets of data D, D, Dof the historical data in the databasewith detection values measured by the first electrode unitand the second electrode unitat a plurality of sites,,, and the sites,,are subsets of each of the sites. The plurality of sets of data D, D, and Dcorrespond to a plurality of matching features,, and, respectively. The acupuncture instrumentmay measure a plurality of numerical values,, and(i.e., detection values) at the plurality of sites,, and. The matching algorithm disclosed herein is to compare numerical values,,with the matching features,,corresponded, such as matching the gender, age, height, weightin the basic datawith the detection value.

921 922 923 922 921 1 2 3 831 832 833 831 832 833 921 922 923 a a a a a a a a a 5 FIG. 3 FIG.A 3 FIG.B The matching features,,serve as big data for the AI modelto capture, and the databasemay be a cloud database. The matching algorithm shown inherein is for illustration only. The plurality of sets of data D, D, Dand the plurality of sites,,shown inandare not limited to three, and a number of the numerical values,,and the matching features,,is not limited to the disclosed number.

As described above, the acupuncture instrument of the invention forms the circuit in the user's hand through the first electrode unit and the second electrode unit. When the microcurrent passes through the circuit of the hand, the voltage can be obtained as the detection value, and then the impedance of the acupoint can be known. Then, the AI model is used to match and calculate the plurality of matching features of the database with the detection value, and detection results including whether the acupoint is detected and whether the acupoint is normal can be obtained. Dietary suggestions, activity suggestions, medical suggestions, etc. can be provided based on the detection results. The medical personnel can also determine the detection results and provide medical advice.